Missing You
by Fire The Canon
Summary: After being put on a case that could potentially tear them apart, Jack and Martha try and make it work; for them and their baby daughter. Will they succeed? Sequel to 'Chapters of our Lives Together'. 2/5 in my multi chap JM series.
1. Chapter 1

_**Well, here is number 2 of my five part series. This is actually the one I wrote first, before any of the others (including Chapters of our Lives Together). It is probably my favourite of the five and I hope you enjoy. I remember when I started writing this... it was a little over six years ago. Your reviews are much appreciated.**_

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ONE

Martha and Jack woke up not feeling tired for the first morning since Olivia was born. Both of them were full of energy and ready for whatever the day would bring them. As for Martha, she was just happy to have Jack and Olivia in her life. They were the two most amazing people ever and she loved both of them so much. She was going to spend the rest of her life with both of them and she couldn't wait to see what every day brought for them.

Every day, Olivia would change, or she'd do something new and both her and Jack were there to witness every second of it. While she was secretly happy with how her life was going, Jack was hurting. Two weeks ago, he had found out some news and still, he hadn't told Martha. How was he supposed to? Finally, she was happy again. She was smiling every day and she was back to the woman that he married. Once he told her the truth, her heart was going to be bro ken again and perhaps she'd go back to being depressed. He didn't want that. They had worked together to get her over that and now that she was, he didn't want her going back to the way that she used to be.

"Maybe it was the cold that kept her asleep last night?" Martha suggested as they came into the kitchen in search of some breakfast. Not that Martha was hungry. She never ate breakfast and she hadn't since as long as she could remember. "It was the coldest night and is the coldest morning I've ever experienced in Summer Bay," she added, deciding to make herself a coffee.

"I don't think she slept through the whole night," Jack laughed, trying to ignore the fact that Martha was extremely happy. There was no way he could tell her the truth. "She just didn't cry. I woke up around two, I think it was, and there was, chatting away to herself." He smiled at her.

Martha smiled back and shook her head. "I didn't hear her at all," she said. She then wrapped her arms around his body and was about to kiss him, but was interrupted by a cry coming from the baby monitor. She just laughed.

"I'll get her," Jack said, pulling away from her and wandering into his eight week old daughter's bedroom. When he picked her up, all he felt was sadness. Why was he doing it? Why was he going to leave her? If he had just read more about the case that he had signed up for and had realised that it was going to take him away from his family, then maybe he wouldn't be feeling this way. Olivia was only a baby. She needed him in her life and he wasn't going to be there. Not for a couple of years anyway. Sadly, he held her in an upright position and brought her back out to Mar tha.

"You are so lucky that you do not understand any of this, because your mum is going to be heartbroken when she finds out," he whispered to her.

When she saw her daughter, Martha smiled and kissed her soft cheek. She always loved to see her first thing in the morning.

"Morning, sweetie," she said. "You had a good sleep last night. You let us sleep in." She took her off Jack and held her in her arms. "Are you hungry?" she asked her. "Jack, could you please get her, her bottle?" She tickled Olivia under the chin, causing her to smile. "Jack!" she said excitedly. "Did you see that? She smiled!"

Jack looked up from making Olivia a bottle and shook his head, slightly disappointed that he had missed her smile for the first time. "No," he said. It just made him feel worse. It was things like that that he was going to miss. What would happen if he was away and Olivia started to talk, or she started to walk? He wanted to be there for all that and now there was a chance that he wasn't going to be. It really hurt him.

Martha tickled Olivia again and this time, she giggled as well. Martha smiled at her and then gave her a big hug. "You're such a clever little girl," she said to her, handing her back to Jack and then going to get ready. "I have got to tell Cass," she told him. "She told me to tell her when all this happens." She bounded happily into her bed room and was about to get ready when Jack called her back. He had that look on his face that told her something was wrong. Was Olivia sick, was he sick? What was going on?

"I need to talk to you," he told her, deciding that he was never going to find the right time to tell her. There really was no right time. He was going to tell her that he had to go away for who knew how long and that he couldn't come back until this case was finished. Just imaging what she was going to do broke his heart.

"Can't it wait?" Martha asked him, unsure of whether or not she actually wanted to hear what he had to say. "I really need to see Cassie," she added.

Jack shook his head. "No, it can't wait," he said. "This is important and it's going to affect us, Martha." He paused, watching her face. Maybe that had come out wrong, because the look on her face made him believe that she thought he was leaving her. He wasn't… well not in the way she thought he meant anyway. But he was surprised by what she said.

"I'm not pregnant again, am I?" she asked him jokingly. He smiled at her and shook his head.

"I don't think so," he laughed. "It's something that I know you are not going to like. I don't even like it and if I could take it back, I would…" He looked at her watching him. She seemed to be so confused. "About a month ago," he started. "I took this case that seemed very interesting and I wanted to work on it. And about two weeks ago… my boss, he told me that I was on it." He watched her. She clearly had no idea what he was talking about. Neither did he, really. Why didn't he just pull out of the case? But then he remembered that he had already tried. There's _no turning back now_, was what McGrath had told him when he had asked.

"Okay," Martha said. "You're telling me this because…" She looked at him. What was he on about? He never told her about any of the cases that he worked on. What was so different now? "It's not dangerous, is it?" she asked.

Jack stared at the ground and shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "It's just, this case, it's in the city," he told her.

"So, what, you'll be gone for a couple of days?" Martha questioned, now seriously confused. Why was he getting so worked up over a case in the city? He went there all the time and he would normally just tell her the night before he went. Why was he upset this time and why was he saying that it was going to change their lives? Was it really that dangerous?

Jack stared at her for a couple of seconds and then back at the ground. A couple of days? If that was all she thought that it was going to be, then she was in for an even bigger shock than what he had first thought. "No, Martha," he said. "Not a couple of days. I can't come back until this case is solved."

Martha felt her heart tear up into a million pieces. "What?" she stuttered. _But that means years_, she told herself. And he can't even come back. "No," she said. "No. Why?" She couldn't seem to find the right words to say. Five minutes ago, she was the happiest that she had ever been and now… now all of that was gone. Jack was leaving and she had no idea when he was going to come back. "But what about us?" she then asked. "What about our marriage? You're not going to walk away from that, are you?" She had to make sure. She had to make sure that it wasn't the end of her and Jack.

"Of course not," Jack told her. "I get every second Sunday off and I will come back and make sure that I spend every second of that with you and Olivia." He took her hand and held it in his. She had reacted the way that he had thought. But he still had no idea what she was thinking. What if she was wondering if he had done it on purpose? Maybe she thought that he had purposely asked to take this case because he knew what it would do. Well he had to make sure that she didn't think that, be cause it wasn't true. There was no way he would have taken this case if he had known that it would take him away from the ones that he loved.

"Martha, I swear that if I had known that it was in the city and that I would barely see you, I never would have taken it. More than anything, I'd rather be here with you and Olivia, but I'm so, so, so sorry." He took her into his arms and held onto her tightly. He was go ing to miss her. He was going to miss her so much.

"Can't you not go?" Martha then asked him. "Tell your boss that you don't want to go anymore. Tell him that I don't want you to go." She wiped away the few tears that had started to fall down her face. This was so hard. Finally, she had been happy again, but now her happiness had just disappeared.

"I tried," Jack told her. "I've tried every day for the past two weeks, but I can't get out of it. McGrath won't let me. He said that I was the one who chose to do this and I have to live with my mistake."

This just made Martha hate Jack's boss even more than what she already did. It wasn't just Jack that was going to suffer from this. It was also her and their daugh ter. What about their daughter? What was Olivia going to do without her dad around? Jack was the only one that could get her to sleep at night, he was the one who made her the happiest. Without Jack helping her, there was no way that Martha would be able to cope.

"But what about Olivia?" she asked him. "She doesn't have live with it. That's not fair on her." She couldn't keep the tears in any longer. The next thing that she knew, she had tears streaming from her eyes and Jack had his arms tighter around her.

"I leave next Monday," Jack whispered to her.

_Next Monday_, Martha thought. _That gives us three days together and to make the most of it._

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**What did you think? Please let me know!**


	2. Chapter 2

TWO

A while later, after Martha had calmed down, the Holden's decided to go to the diner to get out of the cold. Martha dressed Olivia in layer and layers so she would be nice and warm and then they left. As they stepped outside to head to the car, both of them got a rush of coldness. They only had three days left together before they wouldn't see each other for two whole weeks. That was two weeks too long. How were they supposed to cope without having each other lying beside them at night? Martha was going to miss watching Jack play with Olivia. She was going to miss Olivia's happy gestures that she gave when her dad tickled her. But most of all, she was going to miss her life. Without Jack, she didn't have her perfect life. She only had half of it and that was Olivia.

"I love you, Jack," she said as she put Olivia into the car. "I love you so, so much."

Jack smiled at her and nodded. "I love you too," he said. "And I'm going to miss you more than anything." He wrapped his arms around her. She was very cold and he wondered if it was only the weather causing her to feel like that.

Maybe it was all just a dream to Martha; a very bad dream. Maybe in a few minutes, she'd wake up to hear Olivia screaming for her mum or dad to pick her up and then she'd roll over, look at Jack and tell him to go and get her. Although she wished that this was true, she doubted it very much.

OOO

The car trip to the diner seemed to go forever. Normally they'd walk there but be cause it was so cold, they thought it better to keep Olivia as warm as possible.

"Why is it so cold?" Martha asked, trying to get her mind off what Jack had just told her. There was no point stressing over it now. It was going to happen whether she liked it or not and there was nothing that she could do about it. "Liv's not coping, I don't think," she continued, getting out of the car and standing up. "She was shiver ing when I put her in the car this morning." She smiled at him with that smile that made Jack just want to hold her in his arms. He didn't want to let her go and she knew that. She knew that he loved her and she knew how much he loved Olivia.

"I'm not coping either," Jack laughed, trying to cheer himself up. He had hurt both of them by this case and he could only blame himself. Why had he not looked further into it? Why had he not asked his boss where it was taking place? A case as big as that could only be in the city. There was no way it would be investigated in a small town like SummerBay.

He took his daughter out of the car and then his wife's hand and they started to head towards the diner. As they wandered very slowly along, he felt Martha stop in her tracks. He knew why. He thought he had just seen him too.

"Jack," Martha said. "Did you… just… please tell me it was my imagination." She couldn't get the words out. Had she just seen him or was her mind playing tricks because she was so confused this morning? It was definitely someone that she wanted to forget about, especially now that she had Olivia.

"I don't think it was," Jack told her, looking in the direction that he thought that he had just seen Corey. "I think I saw him too." More than anything, he wanted to tell Martha that she was imagining things. Corey had made her life hell for months and he was the reason she had lost a lot of self confidence. He was definitely someone that both of them wanted to forget about and he was someone they wanted to keep away from Olivia.

He'd flip if he found out that they had a daughter together. "But let's not think about that for now, okay?" he then suggested. "Last time I checked, he was still in jail and was nowhere near getting out." He put his arm around her and then continued to lead her towards the diner.

Martha took one last look in Corey's direction and then walked with Jack. It probably wasn't him. She knew that Jack always checked up on Corey. He'd know if he was out of jail.

They wandered quietly into the diner, only to be greeted warmly by Irene. She had a huge smile on her face and clearly had no idea what was going through their minds. But they didn't blame her. It wasn't like it was going to affect her.

"Morning guys," she said cheerfully. "Bit cold out there today, huh?"

Martha nodded and then just sat down in one of the booths. She didn't think she could deal with happy people at the moment, because she wasn't feeling like that. Inside, she was hurting so badly and she just wanted the pain to go away. But it never was. Not until Jack was safely home in her arms again. How long was that going to be? Would it be months, or would it be years?

"Tell me about it," Jack said, sitting next to her. "It's just hit autumn and we're all sitting at home or in here with our fires going." He laughed it off and then looked at Martha. He could guess what was going through her head. It was probably the only thing that been since he had told her. He felt terrible.

"So, what would you guys like?" Irene then asked them, changing the subject. She didn't even seem to notice how down both of her friends were looking.

"Oh, nothing if that's alright?" Jack asked. "We just thought Olivia needed to get out of the cold." He looked down at Olivia sleeping in his arms. She really did seem to be cold. The way she curled up showed it. It was like she was trying to get all of her body heat in one place so that it would warm her up.

"That's fine," Irene said. "Poor thing," she then continued. "Probably never experi enced anything like this before and is probably confused." She wandered over to where Lucas, Cassie, Ric and Matilda were all sitting and placed milkshakes in front of them. Martha looked at them and smiled.

"This early in the morning, guys?" she asked them.

"Energy for school," was Ric's reply.

Lucas got up from his seat and wandered over to where his brother was sitting with Martha and Olivia. "And how's my niece?" he asked them. "Are they looking after you, beautiful? You're not too cold are you?"

Jack looked at his brother with an expression saying 'what are you doing?'

"She's cold," Martha told him. "Very." She looked at Olivia sleeping in Jack's arms and then remembered what she had to tell Cassie. With everything else that had hap pened that morning she had completely forgotten about the fact that her daughter had started smiling. "Oh, Cass," she started. "Liv smiled at me today. For the very first time. I was about to come and tell you, but then…" she paused. She couldn't even think about it at the moment. Right now, she was happy, Olivia was happy and that was how she wanted it to stay. "But then I got held up with other things," she eventually told her after about thirty seconds of being lost in thought.

It was then when everybody worked out that something was wrong. It was just the way that she had hesitated when she was telling them about Olivia. What was going on? Were her and Jack having problems? No, they seemed to be fine. Their smiles towards each other were just as loving as any other day. Something else was wrong.

"Oh, Jack, that reminds me," Lucas said, not knowing exactly what reminded him. "Dad told me to tell you that if I saw you, to tell you that he wants to talk to you. I'm not sure what about, but he said ASAP if that was okay."

"Yeah, I'll go see him now." Jack nodded and then turned back to Martha. "I'll be gone for about half an hour or so," he told her. "You'll be okay, won't you?" he asked, making people wonder even more. Something definitely was going on between them and by thy sound of it, it wasn't a good thing. Martha seemed down about some thing and Jack seemed lost and confused. It was like he wasn't sure what to say to her to make her feel better.

"Okay," Martha whispered quietly, allowing him to kiss the side of her head. She watched him hand Olivia to Lucas and then leave.

_Why?_ was all she could ask her self. Why me and why Olivia? Clearly, everyone else was worried about her too, be cause they were all staring at her. Matilda even laughed.

"Martha, he's only gone to see Tony. It's not like he's going off to… Timbuktu, or something like that," she laughed.

Martha wasn't sure how to reply. Maybe he wasn't going that far away, but it felt like it. She'd only see him once every two weeks for who knew how long. How was she going to survive? How was Olivia going to survive?

"Love, what's wrong?" Irene asked her, realising that something was really troubling her. "You and Jack haven't had a fight or anything have you?" she asked.

All Martha could do before she broke down in tears was shake her head. Ric came over to give her a hug and she could only cry and cry. They had no idea what was going on, but they knew it was upsetting her.

"He's going," she managed to get out. "He's going and I don't know for how long." Ric hugged her tighter and she just cried into his shoulder.

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_**Words cannot express how much I wanted to change of this chapter. But no... I'm leaving it as I wrote it six years ago.**_


	3. Chapter 3

THREE

Jack pulled the car up at his house and then wandered next door to see his dad. On his way he thought about how upset Martha had looked when he had left her there. All she wanted was to spend some time with him before he went to the city, but now he had just got up and walked out. Who was really more important? His wife and his daughter that he wasn't going to see as often as he wanted to, or his dad that he had grown up with? He loved all of them, but Martha and Olivia were his first priority now. It didn't mean that he didn't need to talk to his dad, because he did.

Tony had found out about him going to the city long before Martha. He had even told him that he had asked for the case before Martha knew any of it. The first time that Martha had heard anything about the case was that morning. He hadn't mentioned it to her at all before that. Not even when he had put his name down for it in the beginning. It hadn't even crossed his mind before. To him, it had just been a normal case and it was something that he did everyday. Who knew how something that was so easy for him would turn into the hardest decision he would ever have to make. What if he just didn't show up? What would happen then?

He then thought about why he actually did take it in the first place. It was because he wanted to protect his family. He wanted to keep them safe from all the danger that surrounded them. If he hadn't taken it and then this person hurt Martha or Olivia, he'd never forgive himself. Just knowing that they were hurt by someone that he knew he could have stopped would be enough to send him crazy. But he knew that Martha couldn't see it that way and she never would. All she wanted was to have her husband with her, to help her look after their baby girl and she also wanted him to be there to watch Olivia grow up. So did _he_.

Leaving her was the hardest thing that he'd have to do. Not hearing her cry at night, or not getting up and seeing her every morning he went to work would make it harder. What if they came with him? No, he couldn't let them go. What if they got hurt? They were much safer in the Bay than what they were in the city.

Gloomily, he knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. A voice replied from the other side, but it wasn't his dad's. It was Beth's. She opened the door on him, slightly surprised to see him so early in the morning.

"Jack," she said, letting him in. "Hi."

"Um… I'm looking for dad," Jack told her, trying to hurry her up. "Is he around?"

"You just missed him," Beth replied. "He's just gone for a run, but you're welcome to stay until he gets back." She watched Jack closely. He seemed very on edge about something and looked like he couldn't wait to get out of there fast enough. "Jack is everything okay?" she asked him. "You seem a bit distracted."

Jack looked at her and smiled. "Dad just told me that he wanted to see me as soon as possible, but now he's not here. That's all," he lied. He didn't want anyone finding out about what was going on until Martha had allowed the news to sink in. Once she finally understood, then they would tell everybody else.

"Oh, that," Beth said. "All he wanted was to tell you that he looked into that apart ment that you were looking at in the city. He just wanted to say that it's all yours if you still want it." As she thought about it, her mind trailed to the question of why Jack was looking for an apartment in the city? "Looking for a holiday place?" she asked him with a smile.

Jack smiled awkwardly back at her. "Ah, yeah, something like that," he told her. Really, it was for him to live in while he was there. His boss would refuse to let him drive two hours to the city and back each day.

_You'll be too tired_, he had said. "And you won't get any work done." Jack knew that wasn't the case. He'd be there on time and he'd make sure he got all of his work done so he could leave at four o'clock every afternoon to go back to Martha and Olivia. But no. McGrath hadn't given in when he had told him this.

"Anyway, thanks," he said to Beth, before walking out the door. He just wanted to get back to his family.

"Oh, okay" Beth replied a little surprised. "Bye," she added, before closing the door. What was going on? Something definitely was and she'd have to ask Tony about it once he got back.

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_**I apologise for such a short chapter. Thanks for the reviews :)**_


	4. Chapter 4

FOUR

Back at the diner, Martha had told everyone everything. She had told them exactly what Jack had told her this morning. How he had taken a case to go and work in the city and how he could only come back once every two weeks. Every now and then, she'd break down in tears and start crying again. But luckily, Ric, or Cassie, or Irene was there to comfort her.

Lucas wasn't, though. He seemed to be in just as much a shock as what she had been that morning. He had had no idea that his brother was taking off like that. Martha could have sworn that she even saw a tear in his eye.

"Why does this have to happen to me?" she cried. "It's not fair. Olivia needs him… I need him, but his boss is too stubborn to see that. I mean, Jack made a mistake. He had no idea that it was in the city. If he had known, he wouldn't have taken it, I know he wouldn't have. There would be no way he'd leave Olivia on purpose like that. He just wouldn't do it."

"There's no way he'd leave you like that either," Ric added, letting her know that she had forgotten herself.

She always seemed to do that now. Whenever she was speaking about Jack, she'd always tell them how much he loved Olivia, but never would she mention herself. If she did, though, it would always have something to do with the fact that she wasn't good enough for him. She didn't seem to yet under stand the fact that she _was_ good enough for him. She was always so confused as to why she was the one that had won his heart. It hurt all of her friends to see her that way, but most of all it hurt Jack. He had no idea why she believed or thought those things, because there really was no answer to it. It was just because she was the one he loved. He couldn't help that he fell in love with her, but he never wanted to fall out of love with her. She just didn't seem to understand that.

And the minute that he walked through the door of the diner again, he realised what was going on. It was only a matter of time before this happened, he knew that. She was an extremely emotional person and when she got upset, she got upset.

"Hey, hey, hey," he whispered, taking Ric's spot next to her. "It's okay, don't cry. I'm still here for three more days. We can make the most of it. How about tomorrow, we go to the beach and then the next day…" He paused. He had just had a thought. On his last night that he was here, he was going to do something special for her. But it was going to be a surprise. She wasn't going to find out until it happened.

Martha held onto him tightly. It was like she was a child being comforted by an adult. But it was how she felt. She felt so weak and helpless. There was nothing that she could do that would make Jack stay. He was going to the city and she was going to have to deal with that in the best possible way. Especially when Olivia got older.

She'd start to wonder why her dad wasn't around that often and she'd have to be the one who had to stay strong for her. It was going to be hard.

"I don't want you to go," she told him. "I want you to stay here." She couldn't bare the thought of losing him again. It reminded her of that day, where she had just discovered her feelings for him. It was like she was getting him and losing him at the same time. She still felt bad for the spider incident. It had only been a joke, but it had been one that had gone terribly wrong. She could have cost Jack his job, his hearing and even possibly his life. She remembered how angry he had gotten with her. He never wanted to see her again. Sometimes she would imagine what her life would have been like if she had told him the way she felt about him to start with. What if she had given into to him sooner? Maybe she wouldn't be losing him right now. Maybe they would be happy if she hadn't been such an idiot and denied her feelings for him. She couldn't even understand how she had done it. Her feelings for him were so strong right now; that she knew that if she had felt that then, there would have been no way that she could have kept them to herself.

Jack held her tight. He knew that. He knew that she wanted him to stay, but he couldn't. He had to go to the city on Monday and she couldn't stop him. "How about we just go home?" he suggested.

Martha just nodded. "Okay," she whispered, standing up. She was about to take Olivia off Lucas, but he stopped her.

"Matty and I can look after her for the rest of the day, if you want?" he suggested. "Well, dad will. We have school, but I'm sure he'll be more then happy to look after her," he added, secretly hoping that they would say yes. He really thought that they needed some time to themselves; just to sort everything out. Plus, he loved spending as much time with his niece as possible.

Jack looked down at Martha. She didn't seem to be even paying attention to what Lucas was saying. Her mind was far away from the diner. "That would be great, Luc," he said. "Thanks," he added, before taking Martha's hand and leading her outside. Instead of going back to the car like he had originally planned, he led her all the way down to the beach. There, they walked along in silence. Both of them had now completely forgotten about the cold. They weren't even feeling it anymore. Was it because the sun was starting to shine, or was it because they had each other? Neither of them knew. All that they knew at that very moment was that they were not going to see each other in ages and it was hurting them terribly. Their world seemed to be crashing down around them. All of a sudden, everything they had been so happy about before now seemed so far in the past. Their minds then trailed to Olivia. She was caught in the middle of this. She wasn't feeling any pain yet, but when she grew older, it would hurt her more than what it was hurting Martha right now. Neither of them wanted to see pain on their little girl. It would be too much for either of them to handle.

They were still so young and hadn't planned to become parents so soon, but now that it had happened, they just wanted her to be happy. They wanted to watch her grow up together. Martha hadn't even reached the age of twenty yet, and already, she was dealing with so much. She had had her heart broken many times, but this one definitely topped the list.

As they wandered back to their car, Martha wrapped her arms around Jack's body. She didn't want to let him go. It made her feel better. If she knew that she had hold of him, then maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't be able to go.


	5. Chapter 5

FIVE

The minute Martha stepped into her house an idea came to her head. For the first time since that morning, Jack actually saw a smile come to her face. It made him happy. That was all he wanted; for her to be happy and not be sad that he was going away. She had to stay strong, if not for herself, but for Olivia.

"Jack!" she said excitedly. "How about we throw you a party?" she suggested.

"A party?" Jack laughed as if it was the most outrageous idea in the whole world.

"Yeah," Martha replied. "I'm not going to be the only one who will miss you in this town. It will be a way that everyone can say goodbye to you." She smiled at him so sweetly, that it made Jack want to give in. But he wasn't so sure. He really didn't want people making such a fuss over him. It was actually the last thing he wanted. It would just make things worse. Well for him anyway. Obviously it was going to make Martha feel better.

"Alright," he eventually said. "But only a few people. Our closest friends, okay?" He had to make sure he pointed that out, because he knew Martha and he knew that if he didn't say anything, she'd end up inviting the whole town.

Martha wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him. "Thank you," she said before heading over to the phone to call everyone.

It was late in the afternoon now and Martha and Jack were just bludging at home and mucking around. For the first time that day, Martha was actually finding that she was enjoying herself. She hadn't accepted the fact that Jack was actually leaving – she never was going to – but she just wanted to forget about it. There was no point in worrying about something that she had no control over. She had decided that she was just going to think about what they'd do when they were together and how Jack would still get to see his little girl (even if it wasn't as nearly as much as what he should have been).

"Okay," Jack finally said as he got himself up off the floor. "I suppose I better go and pick Liv up. It probably wasn't in Dad's plans to have her for the whole day. I wonder what mischief she has gotten herself up to?" he wondered more to himself than to Martha. But she just smiled.

"Probably reminding him of you," she told him jokingly. "A cheeky little baby."

Jack smiled back at her. It was all he wanted. He wanted Martha to be the way that she was being now. It was the way that he liked her. "You didn't even know me back then," he told her.

Martha laughed. "But your dad has told me things," she replied. "Yes, that's right, Jacky boy, I know many things about you." She watched him leave, still smiling to herself. It was true; she did know a lot more about Jack than what he thought. Tony had told her. Some of it had been good things like him loving her more than anything, but others had scared her. Luckily, this news had only been a couple of days ago, because if she had known during the time that she had been pregnant, her doubt would have increased.

Apparently Jack had never wanted to have children or get married when he had been younger. Well actually, it had been up until he had met her. She had had no idea about that, because it was something that he had never mentioned to her before. According to Tony, though, that all changed the minute that he had met her. Tony had said that the night that they had first met, Jack had come home, completely in his own little world. When he had asked him what the matter was, all Jack had said was 'Dad, I think I'm in love'.

And Tony had had to laugh when Jack had told him that the girl he was in love with had called him a jerk. It had made Martha smile when she had heard that story, because she had never known that Jack had been attracted to her by those words. It was actually quite funny.

Smiling to herself, she also got back up off the floor from where her and Jack had been chatting about things and sat on the lounge waiting for him to come back with their daughter.

OOO

Jack wandered over next door quickly. He couldn't wait to get Olivia back. Why had he left her there anyway? He now only had two days left with her. He should have been making every minute count with her.

Happily, he knocked on the door and Tony was quick to answer. He laughed. "Can't wait to get rid of her?" he asked.

"No, she was just getting really restless. I think she misses you guys," Tony said, handing his granddaughter over to his son. "But we would have kept her if you guys hadn't wanted her back yet," he added with a smile.

Jack smiled back and then jokingly handed Olivia back to his dad. "Take her," he said.

Tony laughed. "I don't think so," he said. "I know you, Jack and I know that you want to spend as much time as possible with her." He looked at Jack and noticed the sad look on his face. It was pretty obvious that he really didn't want to go to the city. He wanted to stay in SummerBay with his family. Who knew how long it was going to last. It could last for years; years that he would be missing with that little girl in his arms.

Jack was completely besotted with her, anyone could see that. And it was something that he never thought he'd see from Jack. For his whole life, he had continuously said that he was never going to have children or get married. But then he had met Olivia's mother and the way that he saw everything, changed. Tony had watched him change in front of him. He had watched him fall more in love with Martha everyday and it had been so amazing to watch. And then when Olivia had came into his life. All through Martha's pregnancy, he had secretly been scared, just like Martha. He had believed that he wouldn't be able to love that baby. But he had proved both of them wrong. The first time that Jack had seen Olivia, Tony had seen how in love Jack was with that little girl. It had just been beautiful to watch.

Jack sighed jokingly, ignoring what his dad had just said. "Well, it was worth a try," he said as he waved goodbye to his dad and then started to wander back to his own place.

He looked at his bright-eyed daughter in his arms. She was just so amazing and he was going to leave her. He had to keep reminding himself why he was doing it, because otherwise, it would completely tear him to bits.

"Mummy is looking forward to seeing you," he told her, although he knew that she couldn't understand him. "She missed you today and so did I." He rested her head on his chest and put his hand around her protectively.

She giggled excitedly.

See, those were going to be the things that he would miss. He hadn't even seen her smile for the first time that morning and he had been right near her. How was he going to see other things she did when he was two hours away from her?

"Maybe it's a good thing that you don't understand," he whispered to her. "You won't get hurt." He walked the rest away in silence except for Olivia's quiet giggles or gurgles. She was such a happy baby and it made him happy. He just loved it when the people he loved were happy.

"Hello, sweetie," Martha said the moment she saw Jack bring in her daughter. "I missed you today." She gave her a kiss on her forehead, only to have Olivia watch her observantly. She always did that to everyone. It was like she had to make sure they were okay before she let them touch her. The only person that she didn't actually do it to was Jack. She just loved it when he picked her up or played with her and she never, ever cried when he held her.

"I think we need to put this one to bed," Jack eventually said. "She's had a big day, haven't you sweetie?" He held her up so her face was level with his, only to see her giggle at him. He kissed her nose sweetly and then turned her so she was facing Martha. "Say goodnight to Mummy" he told her.

Martha kissed her again and then went back to her cooking. Her mind wasn't even on the food in front of her. All her mind was thinking about was the party the next day. She had ended up calling all of Jack's friends and they had all accepted happily. Now all she needed to do was make it perfect. It was a chance for Jack to see all of his friends one last time before he went away. She knew that he had said only a few people, but once they all arrived, she knew that he'd be happy that they were there. He was her husband and she knew him only too well.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked, coming back out from putting Olivia to bed. He waited for her to reply, but she never did. She was off in her own little world. "Martha," he repeated.

Martha jumped and then turned around to face him as she realised that she had been daydreaming. "What?" she asked him.

"I asked you what you were doing," Jack repeated.

Martha looked at him with a confused expression. What did it look like she was doing? "I'm cooking," she told him.

"Doesn't look like it," Jack replied with a laugh. "Come on, let me finish that while you relax. It's been a big day for you and you've had to deal with quite a lot." He practically had to push her out of the kitchen and sit her down on the lounge. He kissed her cheek and then went back into the kitchen.

Martha switched on the TV just in time to watch one of her favourite movies. She planned to sit there and watch it, but the next thing she knew, Jack was waking her up. She must have fallen asleep.

"Hey," he whispered softly. "Go to bed. You don't look too good."

"I'm fine," Martha replied, trying to sit up. But as she did, she had to grab her head and lie back down. She was all of a sudden dizzy and couldn't focus on anything.

"No you're not," Jack replied. "Martha, are you okay?" He was now getting worried. Martha seemed to look worse than what he had originally thought.

"I have a headache," Martha now complained, ignoring the fact that she had just said she was fine. "And I feel dizzy. Are there two of you there?" she asked him.

"Come on, you need to go to bed" Jack told her, helping her up off the lounge. "I'll bring you in some paracetamol for your headache. You just go and rest." He turned her in the direction of their bedroom and then wandered into the kitchen.

This time Martha didn't even try to argue. She felt terrible, so she stumbled into the bedroom. She couldn't even see the bed properly. All that was in front of her was a blurred object. Awkwardly, she climbed into bed and fell asleep before Jack even came into her.

After an hour or so of sitting up just in case Olivia woke up, Jack finally decided to go to bed himself. He had gone in earlier to give her something for her headache, but had found her sound asleep. And the second time was no different. She seemed to be lying in exactly the same position as she had been an hour ago. Quietly, he climbed in beside her and tried to fall asleep. But unlike Martha, he was finding it hard. Too much was going through his head and he could hear Olivia's soft whining on the baby monitor. Wondering what was wrong, he got back up and went into her room.

But she was just like her mother; sound asleep and clearly not wanting to be disturbed. So he decided to go for a walk instead. He often did that at night. It was so he could clear his head. Most of the time it would be after he and Martha had had some kind of fight and he was trying to find someway to forgive her. It was only occasionally when he couldn't do it and he had to wait until Martha apologised herself. But that was very rare, because with Martha being so stubborn, she never believed that she was in the wrong. Speaking of her, though, he wasn't even sure if she knew that he did this. If she did, she never said anything, or questioned where he was going.


	6. Chapter 6

SIX

The next morning, Martha woke up feeling much better than she had the night before. Her head was clearer and she had no dizziness. Maybe a good night's sleep was all that she had needed. It had been a big day and she had taken in so much.

Jack was leaving her and Olivia on their own. No wife would be able to tell her that that was easy to handle. But she knew what she was getting into when she married a cop. Jack had warned her about late night shifts and having to go away all the time. She thought that she had accepted it, but this was just too much for her to handle; especially when she knew that she only had a few days left with him.

She rolled over and looked at the clock. She had slept in to 9:15. Jack was even up before her. Part of her wanted to just stay in bed, but the other part knew that she had to get up. Her mind was on the party that evening. She had plenty of things to do and plenty of things to organise. On top of all that, she had to take care of Olivia as well. Maybe she'd see if Tony was free to look after her. That was if Jack was doing something, or going to come with her when she went shopping for everything.

Slowly, she got up out of bed and wandered into the dining area, where Jack was sitting with Olivia on is lap. He was tickling her, while she giggled happily. It was quite cute to watch.

"Hey, you two," she said sweetly. "What are you doing?"

Jack turned around and looked at her with a smile. She seemed to be so much happier then the day before. And she didn't look sick either. "Hey," he replied. "How are you feeling today?" he asked.

Martha nodded. "I feel fine today," she told him. "I think all I needed was a good night's sleep." She smiled at him and then down at Olivia, who was watching her with great curiosity. She was such a beautiful girl and ever since the day before, she was smiling at everything and anyone. "How are you today, sweetie?" she asked her.

Jack looked down at his daughter in his arms. "She was very worried about her mum," he said, bouncing her up and down a couple of times. "I told you she was going to be fine, didn't I?" he then asked, kissing her cheek. He handed her to Martha and then wandered over to the lounge room, where Olivia's blanket was lying. "I just gave her a bottle," he told Martha, picking the blanket up and taking it back over to her. "So she should be fine for a couple of hours."

Martha laughed. "Since when did she start using a bottle anyway?" she asked him.

Jack shrugged. He wasn't sure; it just kind of happened one day when Martha decided that she didn't like the breast feeding part. Rachel had told her many times that it wasn't good for a baby Olivia's age; and doctors had told her that too, but she wouldn't listen. She said that Olivia was a perfectly healthy girl and she was happy with the way things were going. After Martha had yelled at her one day, Rachel had given up on trying to convince her.

"Okay," he started, changing the subject. "How about some breakfast for you?" he suggested.

Martha shook her head. "Nah, I'm not hungry," she told him.

Jack frowned at her. She was never hungry and she never ate breakfast. But he wanted to do everything for her in the next few days; just to prove how sorry he really was for leaving her and Olivia. He wasn't quite sure if she knew that it was a mistake and that he regretted it more than any other decision that he had ever made in his entire life. And with her history of things like that, he needed to make sure that it wasn't the end of them or anything like that. It was only him taking a break that he really didn't want to take.

"I'll make it for you," he said, ignoring the fact that she had just told him no. "You go and sit down and relax." He turned her towards the lounge and then went into the kitchen.

Martha sighed and then sat down with Olivia on her lap. She watched her for a while and observed how big she had grown. To her, it was only yesterday when she had held her in her arms for the first time. Now, she was two months old and she was smiling happily at everything. She loved her more than anything else in the whole entire world and she knew that Jack felt the same way. He didn't exactly hide the way he felt for his daughter and it was very sweet.

Olivia rested her head on her mum and gurgled happily. Martha had no idea what was going through her mind, but she assumed it was happy thoughts, because she could hear her giggling and gurgling non stop. It was a good thing that she had no idea where her dad was going, because she would be completely heartbroken if she knew.

Jack brought over Martha's breakfast and sat it in front of her. She tried eating at the same time as Olivia did. Jack offered to take Olivia off her, but she refused. It was quite funny how Olivia thought that maybe if her mum was nice enough, she'd give her some of her food. But the sad part was that she couldn't eat any of it. Still, it was very cute to see how interactive his daughter was with people.

OOO

A while later, after Martha and Jack had both gotten ready and tidied up Olivia's mess in the house, Martha decided to go and do her shopping for the party that night.

She sighed as she placed the last toy of Olivia's away and stood up. It was amazing how a two month old baby could make so much mess. But it was probably because they would always play with her. She loved it and it made her happy. "Ok, well I'm just going to do some shopping for tonight," she said to Jack as she grabbed her keys to the car and her bag. "You'll be okay with Olivia?" she then asked.

Jack hesitated before replying. "Um, I kind of have to go down to the station to sign some paperwork for Monday," he told her, knowing that she wasn't going to be happy that he was still spending time at work when he was going to be with them for maybe years.

"Oh," Martha replied, trying to hide how upset she was. This was going to affect them, she knew it. No matter how hard they tried to fight it, it was going to affect their lives, Olivia's life and perhaps even their marriage. Jack was already spending a lot of time at work instead of her and it hadn't really started yet. "I have to take Olivia with me, then," she said.

"No, I'll take her with me," Jack replied. "She hasn't been to the station in ages. Anyway, Fitzy might want to see her." He smiled at her and then lifted Olivia out of her rocker which Martha had put her in to sleep. "You want to come down and see where I work?" he asked her. "Would you like that?" He kissed her cheek and then grabbed his own keys. "Say goodbye to Mummy."

Olivia looked sleepily at her mum and then smiled. She loved her mum very much and anyone could see that.

Martha smiled back at her. "Okay, sweetie," she said. "I'll see you later. You two have fun, okay?" She kissed both of them goodbye and then left to go and do the shopping. She wanted this party to be perfect and she wanted Jack to have a good time.

"Well, Liv," Jack said after Martha had gone. "Let's go down to the station." He walked outside with Olivia in his arms. He put her in the car and then drove off. On his way, he couldn't seem to think about anything else butt he previous day. What had he done? What had Martha and Olivia done to deserve this? If it wasn't for Olivia, he may have possibly ended it with him and Martha. It would have killed him to do so, but she didn't need to suffer like she was going to. Who knew how long he was going to be gone for. All he wanted was for her to be happy and she wasn't going to be if he was gone for ages. But something inside of him told him that it was the wrong thing to do. Olivia needed both her mum and her dad and when he did end up coming back for good, she'd find it strange how he didn't come back to her and her mum. Plus, he loved Martha and he didn't want to lose her. She was prepared to go through it all and as much as he wished that she didn't have to, he was glad that she was staying with him.

For a couple of seconds, he took his eyes off the road and looked at Olivia in the rear-view mirror. She was so happy and he couldn't help but smile. The more he looked at her and watched her change, the happier he felt that she wasn't going to miss him for a couple of years. But then the thought of how much of her life he was going to miss popped into his head. Unless they solved this case very quickly there was no way he'd be back until she was at least two years old. And that was only the minimum. It could be longer.

Before getting out of the car, he just sat, looking at the life that he was going to leave. That police station that was right in front of him was the one that he loved working in. It meant that at the end of each shift, he'd be able to come back home to the two people that he loved the most. But that was not how it was going to be in the city. Instead, he'd be coming home to an empty house, with no daughter that would be happy to see him, or no wife that he could talk to. He'd be lonely and he hated that thought. He just wished that he had the courage to walk up to his boss and say 'hey, I'm not doing it, I'm staying here'. But he knew that there was no use. His boss wouldn't give into things as much as what Martha wouldn't. Once those two made their mind up, there was no getting out of it.

* * *

_**This is hard work trying not to rewrite anything, but I'm surviving... just :)**_


	7. Chapter 7

SEVEN

Martha walked day dreamily up and down each aisle of the supermarket looking for food. Her mind was clearly not with the real world and she didn't even realise when Tasha came up to her.

"Hey, Mac," she said. She waited for Martha to reply, but she didn't. All she did was stare at food on a shelf. "Mac," she repeated.

Martha jumped and then turned around, a bit surprised to see her best friend standing behind her. "Tash!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" she asked her, not meaning to sound rude. She just really wasn't in the mood to talk at the moment. Her mind was on other things and Tasha could guess what.

"Robbie was supposed to go shopping yesterday," Tasha told her. "While I was out. You know guys, though." She laughed.

Martha smiled weakly. "Yeah," she said. "At least you'll have Rob there for you whenever you need him. And at least you don't have a baby you will need to look after on your own..." She trailed off, not letting Tasha get a word in either way. It was clearly the only thing that was going through her mind right now and it probably was going to be the only thing for quite some time. Tasha couldn't begin to imagine what Martha was going through. It must have been hard for her to find out that Jack was going away in a couple of days for who knew how long and that she'd have to look after a two month old baby on her own. If that had been her, she would have cracked two minutes after Robbie had told her. Martha was holding it together pretty well so far.

"Anyway, are you coming tonight?" Martha then asked her, trying to divert her friend from bringing up the subject on which she didn't want to talk about. "Robbie said you were… but… yeah." She looked at her sadly, hiding the tears that were forming in her eyes. It was going to be hard to keep calm tonight, she knew it.

"Mac," Tasha started. "Of course we're coming. Jack is our friend too and we're all going to miss him so much." She grabbed ice-cream out of the freezer and then turned back to Martha. "And if you need anyone to talk to, I'm here, okay?" She placed a comforting hand on Martha's shoulder and smiled at her sympathetically.

Martha nodded. "Okay," she said.

Tasha realised that she didn't want to talk about it anymore, so she took it as a chance to leave. All she wanted was to be there for her best friend. She wanted to make sure that she was going to be okay and let her know that she had so many friends that wanted help her out. Because at the moment, she wasn't sure if Martha understood that or not. By talking to her just then and by what Robbie had told her, Martha seemed to believe that she was on her own in this. She seemed to think that just because Jack wasn't going to be there, then no one else was going to be. Well she knew for a fact that she would not struggle finding a babysitter for Olivia in this town. Anyone was willing to help her out.

OOO

Jack wandered slowly into the police station, only to be greeted happily by his boss. He clearly had no idea how Jack was feeling about this case, because the smile on his face was so happy and cheerful.

"Hey, Jack," he said. "I was wondering where you got to. You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago." He smiled down at Jack's daughter in her dad's arms and she smiled back. She seemed to have no idea what was going on. "You're a cutie," he told her, tickling her under the chin and causing her to giggle.

"And a good girl," Jack added, lifting Olivia back up, seen as she was slipping from his grip. "She slept through the whole night last night, without waking her mum and dad up." He took the papers off his boss. What if he didn't sign them? He wouldn't have to go to the city. He'd lose his job, but that wouldn't matter to him. His family were more important to him. He'd get over his job, but if he ever lost them, it would be something that he'd never be able to forget. But as he stared at them, he came to the same conclusion as before. If this person they were after came anywhere near Olivia or Martha, he'd never be able to forgive himself for that. He was going to protect them and pulling out meant that maybe they could get hurt. So he signed them. That was it. He was now officially leaving his family to go and work in the city with a bunch of people he didn't know. His life sucked so much right now.

OOO

Martha pulled up quickly in her driveway and then hurried into the house. She needed to get this party ready. It was so exciting having almost the entire town at her place. It would not only be a chance for Jack to say goodbye to his closest friends, but it also gave everyone a chance to catch up with people; including her. There were some people that she hadn't spoken to in a while and she really wanted to see them again. While she was outside, clearing the backyard, she heard someone in the house. It panicked her for a few moments until she saw Jack come out to her. Ever since she had believed that she had seen Corey the day before, her mind kept playing tricks on her. Every sudden movement would scare her and she was afraid that he'd just pop out of nowhere and hold her in that headlock position again. She would try telling herself that he was safely locked up in jail, but her instincts were telling her that it had been him she had seen. It really scared her. With Jack gone, anything could happen to her and she really feared for Olivia's safety. If Corey ever found out that she had a daughter to Jack, he would freak.

"Hey," Jack said to her as he sat down on one of the chairs with Olivia on his lap. "What are you doing?"

Martha looked up at him and smiled. "Just getting ready for this party tonight," she told him. "Did Liv enjoy all the cops down at the station?" she then asked.

"She only met my boss," Jack told her. "And she loved him," he added cheekily as he saw the look on Martha's face. That was probably the last person that she wanted Olivia to like. She was never happy with him and she was always going off at him for giving Jack the most stupid shifts. He did have a family back at home, she'd always say and then she would start rambling on about the same thing every time. It was actually quite funny.


	8. Chapter 8

EIGHT

By the time four o'clock had come, everything was ready for this party. Jack and Martha had spent almost the whole day making it look perfect. Martha had told Jack what to do and he had just obeyed. But he didn't care. She seemed to be really excited about this and it was getting her mind off everything else. If a party did that to her, then he would just go along with it.

Just as Martha came out of Olivia's bedroom with her daughter wide awake in her arms, there was a knock on the door. She wandered over to it happily and greeted Beth, Matilda, Lucas and Tony all with a cheerful smile. They were all actually quite surprised seeing as she been really upset the day before. "Come in," she told them, stepping aside as they all piled in.

Tony smiled at her and then looked around the house. "Are we the first ones here, or something?" he laughed.

Martha nodded. "Of course," she replied. "No one ever shows up on time."

The second that Lucas and Matilda came in, they went straight over to Martha and took Olivia off her. Both of them loved her so much and they loved it when Martha and Jack would decide that they didn't want her for the day; especially after all the trouble that Martha had had with leaving Olivia when she was only a newborn baby. They had thought that they'd never get her then. They smiled sweetly at Martha, telling her that they'd be ok and then they disappeared outside.

Tony just laughed. "You guys might have trouble getting her back by the end of tonight," he told them.

Martha shrugged. "As long as she's safely in her bed by the time everyone has gone, she'll be fine." She smiled over at Jack, who just smiled back at her.

_At least she is happy for now_, he thought to himself. But he secretly wondered how long that would last. How long would it take for the reality to actually hit her? He was going and there was nothing that she could do to stop him.

OOO

Everybody else had shown up by the time four thirty hit. They were all laughing and joking around and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Everyone except Martha, that was. She had been trying so hard not to think about the coming Monday, but just seeing all those people there saying goodbye to Jack, made it harder. She just wished that it was all a dream. More then anything, she wanted to wake up and realise that none of it had been true. But as she felt tears run down her cheeks, she realised that it wasn't. All of it was true. Jack was leaving her on her own. She would have to look after Olivia by herself. Olivia would have to grow up without her dad being around her constantly. It just wasn't fair. She left the conversation that she was having with Rachel and Kim and ran inside. Tony noticed the tears in her eyes and chased after her.

"Martha," he said. "What's going on? Are you okay?"

All Martha could do was shake her head. No, she wasn't okay. Would anyone be if their husband just told them that he was leaving her to go off into the city for work? She felt more and more tears run down her face and then Tony come over and hug her. He felt so sorry for her right then. All he wanted to do was to tell her that everything would be okay. But he couldn't do that. If he did, he'd be lying to her. Jack was going away for who knew how long. He was leaving Olivia too. How was everything supposed to be okay when she didn't have him around? The only thing that may have made her feel the tiniest bit better was hugging her tighter. He just held onto her as she cried and cried and cried.

"Hey, Martha, Jack wants to know – hey, are you okay?" Cassie's voice came through the door. She was clearly surprised to see how upset Martha looked. What was going on? "What's up?"

Martha was sick of people asking her if she was ok. None of them had the slightest idea what she was going through and she just wished that they'd stop trying to understand. Only Jack could understand it and he was no where to be seen.

Cassie walked over to her and gave her a hug as well. She then led her over to where the lounge was and told her to sit down. "Now tell me what's going on," she demanded.

"I don't want him to go," Martha finally told them as she began to quietly sob. "I want him to stay here with me and Olivia. It's where he belongs, not in the city." She could feel the tears coming again. They were just so hard to control. Even the slightest mention of Jack's name would do it to her.

"We all want him to stay, Martha," Tony assured her. "And do you really think that Jack doesn't? If he had known that this case had been in the city, then there was no way he would have taken it. He loves you and Olivia more then anything else in this whole world and we both know that he'd much rather be with you then there." He picked up her hand and squeezed it tightly. He really wished that Jack was here with her right now. If only he could see her.

"Then why can't he just say he's not going?" Martha cried.

"Believe me, Martha," Tony continued. "He has tried so many times in the past few weeks. But you know what McGrath's like. He wouldn't let him out of it."

This made Martha hate Jack's boss even more. How could he do that to Jack? All he wanted was to be back with her, but the heartless man didn't give a stuff. All he cared about was making the police force look good.

She looked up just in time to find Jack standing there. She tried so hard to smile at him but it just wouldn't come.

It broke Jack's heart to see her like that. How could he leave her? He didn't want to leave her. He loved her more than anything else in this whole world, but still, he was putting work first. He probably hated himself as much as what Martha did for doing it. "Hey," he said sympathetically as he sat down next to her and gave her a hug. "It's okay, I'm still here right now," he assured her.

"It's not okay, Jack!" Martha cried. "You're supposed to stay here with me and Olivia, not go off to the city. I want you here. I can't raise our baby on my own." She couldn't sit there any longer and let Jack tell her that everything was okay. It wasn't. He was leaving her to look after their daughter on her own. It wasn't fair on her, it wasn't fair on Jack and it especially wasn't fair on Olivia. What was she going to do when her dad was never around? She'd miss him and it would be up to Martha to explain what was going on. With tears streaming down her face, she stood up. This party was supposed to be fun for everyone. It was meant to be happy for everyone so they could say their goodbyes to Jack. Maybe that was why it made her upset in the first place. She had thought that maybe after a few days, she'd be okay with him going, but she obviously wasn't. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with _him_. She wanted him to see their little girl grow up. She loved him so much; she had from the moment she had seen him. Why hadn't she just admitted it straight away? Why did she have to play hard to get? Maybe if she hadn't, he wouldn't be leaving her.

She left her friends inside and ran outside to be on her own. No one who saw her needed to even ask what her problem was. They all knew. She ran the furthest away from everyone. The only thing she wanted was to be on her own right then. She needed to clear her head. It was so hard to accept the fact that Jack was leaving, but she knew that she needed to do it. He would come back to her, she knew that. He loved her and not even his job was going to stop him from seeing her altogether. She thought about how many times he had put her first, but she just wished that he would do it this time. And there was no way he'd never see Olivia again. He'd make sure he'd see her as much as he could. All this hurt to think about, but the more that she did, the better it made her feel and she found herself relaxing.

OOO

Back at the house, everyone had decided to go home a bit earlier than planned. All that was left to do was to say goodbye to Jack and wish him luck in the case.

"Don't worry about it, mate," Alf said to him sympathetically. "She'll come around eventually. She's just upset that someone so important to her is being taken away." He handed Jack his daughter back and smiled.

"I know," Jack replied. "I just hate seeing her like that and it's just made things worse for me. I don't want to leave her either and if I could get out of it, I would, but I can't." He lifted Olivia up so that she was around his height and then looked back at Alf. "Do you think I want to leave this one either?" He kissed his daughter's cheek and smiled as she just continued to suck on her hand. She clearly had no idea what was going on and he was glad. There was no way he would have been able to cope if both of them were upset.

Alf smiled at him. "I'll look after both of them," he assured him. "They'll be my first priority." With those words, he left the house, along with everyone else.

When they had all gone, Jack put Olivia in bed, switched the baby monitor on and then took it out to where Martha was still sitting. She hadn't moved for the rest of the night and although it was dark, he could tell that she was crying. "Hey," he said as he sat next to her. "What are you doing?"

"Just thinking," Martha told him. "Has everyone gone?" she then asked.

Jack nodded. "Yeah, they all left early." He put his arm around her and then brought her close to him. Her body was so comforting next to his and he just wanted to hold onto her all night.

"I'm sorry about tonight," she apologised. "It was just… just… it got to me. I don't want to say goodbye to you on Monday. Is there anyway that maybe you could 'forget' to go?" she then questioned teasingly.

Jack laughed. "I wish there was," he told her truthfully. "Shame I have a good memory, huh?" He smiled at her, glad that she was smiling back. She needed to stay strong in all of this; for Olivia's sake. "And don't be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for," he then said.

"For embarrassing myself, I do," Martha laughed. "I acted like a total idiot tonight," she told him.

"No you didn't," Jack replied. "You did what any normal person would do."

Martha smiled as she thought about everything from the day they met to now. She had had the perfect life and now it was gone.

OOO

Martha had trouble sleeping that night. All the events from the last two days were going through her mind over and over again. It just wouldn't stop. All of this was on her mind all of the time. She couldn't sleep, or eat, or even have a normal conversation without thinking about Jack leaving her. When she did finally drift off to sleep, she was just reawakened by the crying of Olivia. She looked over at Jack, but he hadn't even heard her. So she got out of bed and wandered into her daughter's bedroom.

"You pick your moments, don't you?" she said quietly as she picked her up. "I was almost asleep." She rocked the baby in her arms for a while, until Olivia settled down. It didn't take long, though, because every time you'd pick her up, she'd automatically stop crying. It was like she knew that if she cried someone would come running. "Why do you always do that?" She yawned tiredly as she put Olivia back in her bed. "Get us up and then send us straight back to bed again?"

She waited a little longer until she was sure that Olivia was asleep and then went back to bed. It wasn't easy to get back to sleep, but she managed to sleep very lightly for the rest of the night.


End file.
